Kristen shrugged. „Pure chance. I was upset over a case I’d just had to plead down and I’d gone for a walk to clear my head. I walked into Owen’s diner and we started to talk. I never had any clue he was Leah’s father. I never had any clue he’d been a cop.“

She said it like she thought she should have. „Why would you?“ Abe asked reasonably. „He ran a diner, served food. Why would you think he was a retired cop?“

Kristen shook her head. „I know up here that I couldn’t have known.“ She tapped her head. „But knowing it down deep is something entirely different. Anyway, apparently Leah got more and more depressed until Owen moved her to an apartment away from the city to give her a change of scenery. To keep her from having to walk the same streets that she’d been walking the day she was raped. He got her a place up in Lake County, not too far from the Worth property you found.“

„But it was too late,“ Mia added. „Leah ended up committing suicide.“

„The trauma we were looking for,“ Spinnelli said.

„How is the little girl?“ Kristen asked. „Kaplan’s daughter? She’s been weighing on my mind all day.“

Spinnelli clenched his jaw. „From what they can get out of her, she didn’t see her father killed. They don’t think she saw his body, just Madden. He was bloody and crazy. That’s what she keeps saying. Bloody and crazy.“

„She’s traumatized for life,“ Kristen murmured, guilt blatantly obvious on her face.

„It is not your fault,“ Abe said firmly.

„How did he know about his uncle, Paul Worth?“ Spinnelli asked.

Kristen shrugged. „He didn’t get that far. He stopped while he was writing about how he drugged me and copied my database from my hard drive. He must have gotten a call from Zoe Richardson, because that’s who he was looking for when he came into the warehouse.“

Spinnelli’s expression became even grimmer, his bushy mustache bunching as he frowned. „He may have gotten a call from someone saying she was Richardson, but it wasn’t Richardson.“

Kristen closed her eyes. „She’s dead.“

Spinnelli hesitated. „Yes.“

„How?“ Kristen asked.

Spinnelli exchanged a glance with Abe that spoke volumes. This was not something Kristen needed to know. At the prolonged silence Kristen opened her eyes. „Tell me.“

„Conti killed her, Kristen. That’s all you need to know.“

Kristen’s eyes flashed. „How did she die? Dammit, Marc, I have a right to know.“

Spinnelli sighed. „She suffocated.“

Mia frowned. „Suffocated? But – “

„Jack, are you done here?“ Spinnelli interrupted. „Because I need to schedule a press conference and I’ll need a summary of everything you’ve found. Kristen, there was a stack of books on Madden’s nightstand. He stuck a sticky note with your name on the top of the stack. Poetry, I think. Keats and Browning. Mia, will you take Kristen to look through them?“

Kristen regarded him steadily. „It doesn’t matter if you tell me or not, Marc. Sooner or later one of the reporters will find out and all I’ll have to do is watch the ten o’clock news.“ She left the room, Mia at her heels. When they were gone, Spinnelli sighed again.

„When news broke that both Edwards and Conti were dead, we got an anonymous tip that if we stopped them from burying Angelo Conti, we’d find a missing person. Luckily the ground is so soggy from the thaw that they couldn’t get the diggers out to the burial plot.“

Abe grimaced as Spinnelli’s meaning hit home. „No.“

Spinnelli nodded. „Yes. Kristen’s right. This will be all over the news sooner or later. I’ll leave it up to you how you tell her. Now, get her out of here and get back to your family. How is your brother?“

Abe checked his watch. „They should be letting him go home any minute. I’m taking Kristen home.“

„Not to her house,“ Spinnelli cautioned. „We’ll need to get someone to clean up her living room. There’s blood all over the wallpaper.“

Blue stripes. Fighting a shudder Abe visualized the scene Mia and Spinnelli had found, the dead body in her living room, the blood streaking the blue-striped wallpaper. Visualized Kristen shooting the man who’d intruded into her home. Who’d put his hands on her. And even through the horror, was fiercely proud that she’d acted with such precise calm. She hadn’t been able to fight her attacker ten years ago. Today, she’d more than made up for it.

„No,“ Abe said, his voice unsteady. „I won’t take her to her house. I’ll take her to my parents’. Everyone will be there.“ He turned to go when Spinnelli’s hand closed over his shoulder.

„I was proud of you today, Abe. You waited for us at the warehouse instead of charging in to save the day yourself. You did the right thing.“

And how hard it had been to sit there, hearing the seconds tick away in his mind, knowing Conti had Kristen, that he might be killing her at that very moment. But it had been the right thing to do. He never could have saved her alone. „Thank you,“ he whispered.

Spinnelli gave him one of those long hard looks that once again made Abe feel as if the man was looking straight into his soul. „You’re welcome.“

Saturday, February 28,

7:30 p.m.

The noise was such a welcome relief that Kristen felt tears sting her eyes. By unspoken mutual consent, she and Abe had not returned to her house, instead coming to the only place it made sense to come. Abe opened the door to Becca’s kitchen from the laundry room and it was like she’d come home. Sean and Ruth’s kids chased each other across the kitchen, Becca was watching QVC and Annie was peeling potatoes. Rachel sat at the kitchen table, working on what appeared to be algebra. The television in the living room was blaring some sports event, accompanied by the outraged shouts of Reagan men.

With a tearful cry, Rachel leaped from the table and rushed Kristen, nearly knocking her down with the ferocity of her embrace. Kristen hugged her close, rocking her gently. Rachel hadn’t been at the hospital when she and Abe had gone to see Aidan. Kristen understood the girl needed the reassurance that she was indeed unharmed. Perhaps Kristen needed the reassurance as well. She swallowed hard and drew Rachel’s head against her shoulder.

„It’s all right now, honey. I promise. It’s all over.“

„I was so scared,“ Rachel whispered, trembling. „When they said you were missing, I…“

„I was scared, too.“ She could admit that now, now that everything was over. She’d seen four men die this afternoon, one at her own hand. Somehow the reality that she’d killed a man in her own living room hadn’t yet sunk in. She supposed it would in time. For now, she held on tight to Rachel. „But you, honey, you helped save my life. Detective Mitchell told me how you recognized Owen from my office. Without you, they wouldn’t have known who he was. You helped them find Aidan, so they could get him to the hospital.“

Rachel pulled back, her lips curving in a faltering smile even as tears streaked her cheeks. „I did, didn’t I? He owes me big time.“

Kristen cupped Rachel’s cheek, wiping the girl’s tears away with her thumb. „Yes, he does. And so do I. Thank you, Rachel.“

„You’re all right?“ she asked anxiously. „Really all right? You’re not lying or anything?“

Kristen’s lips twitched. „I’m not lying. I’m really okay. Better now that I’m here with you.“

Rachel tilted her head to one side, studying her. „Aidan said you shot some guy and killed him.“

Kristen drew a breath. „Yes, I did.“

Rachel’s eyes narrowed. „Good. He deserved it.“

„Rachel, I don’t think Kristen really wants to talk about that right now,“ Becca said. She put her own arms around Kristen and brought her close. „We were so worried,“ she whispered. „I’m so glad you’re back here where you belong.“ She pressed a kiss to the top of Kristen’s head, men pulled away, briskly moving about her kitchen. „Abe, make yourself useful. Take that pie into your brother. He’s resting on the sofa in the living room.“